About the previous chapter: I don't know if House can play a trumpet (now I can name the instrument without spoiling the surprise) but I wanted him to play something on the balcony. I could not fit a piano in there, guitar didn't have the feeling I wanted and I knew he had the trumpet, so I just decided he can play it. There is nothing in the canon that says he can, but then there is nothing in it that says he cannot, so I just made up my own mind about it.
In this chapter House starts a case in which I make use of the episode "Three Stories", I have elaborated on the information and invented some new "facts". Usually I do search for information on the medical things to make sure I at least get them half-way right, but this time I didn't. Mainly because I didn't think I could find anything. So please, suspense your disbelief and just go with it.
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Next morning House came to work at his usual time. He had gone to see both his Mother and Andie before he had gone home the night before and both of them had done well – respective situations taken into consideration. He had slept better than in a week, but that wasn't still that good. He felt tired and his leg bothered him. Pretty much the only thing that had got him out of bed that morning was the knowledge that if things got worse he could go to Cuddy and get his injection.
He limped into his office, which was mercifully free of all party paraphernalia by then. His underlings were next door, but didn't pay much mind to his arrival, which made it pretty clear that there had been no new case waiting for them when they got in. Foreman did give him a searching glance when he got in, but it wasn't the first time his affirmative action hire was puzzling over something he had done. He just hoped it was not Cameron. He really didn't want a lecture on how badly he had behaved with her. Ok, she had sort of provoked him, but that did not stop him from feeling guilty for having made Cameron cry – again. Sure, it was for her own good, but ... why couldn't she just learn already!
House left his stuff into his office and visited Wilson to discuss Andie. No new developments there. Wilson had increased the pain medication to its maximum – that is to the maximum that Andie could handle and still be lucid. Having discussed it with Andie and her mother, Wilson had decided to put Andie into the coma as soon as the medication was going to rob her of her ability to interact with people anyway. It was not a very cheery conversation, and House didn't think Wilson could take any of his jokes right then, so he didn't stay for long. He headed towards the clinic with a resigned sigh.
He had only just left Wilson's office when he saw a medical student approach him. She looked possibly Korean and he thought he had seen her before somewhere. But all the students looked alike; especially the Asian ones who all had the same studious look on their faces, and parental pressure on their shoulders. House turned his back to her.
"Doctor House!" She called after him. He walked on. "Please, Dr. House, I need your help."
"So do the patients at the clinic, got to go," House threw over his shoulder.
She wasn't deterred. She run to House and stepped in front of him, when he tried to go around her, she grabbed his cane away from him with a scared but determined look on her face. Impressive!
"You do realise that you have just earned yourself instant dismissal from this hospital?" House asked speculatively. She turned pale, but did not back off.
"I don't care," she said squaring her shoulders. "My father needs your help and if I have to beat you with this cane, you will listen to what I have to say."
House tilted his head and assessed the slip of a girl confronting him. She had caught his interest. Her problem was probably very mundane and boring, but she might be entertaining enough. Then he remembered her.
"You were present at the lecture I gave, weren't you?" House asked.
"Yes, I was. You said I was useless, but that I at least knew it," she confirmed.
"Fine," House said. "I'm on my way to the clinic. Walk with me. You have till we reach there to convince me that I want to help your father in any way." House reached for his cane. The girl hesitated and House pointed out: "I need it for walking, and I think you can be fairly sure I will not outrun you." She blushed and quickly gave him the cane. "So talk! Though I am slow it will not take very long for us to reach the clinic. So what is wrong with your Father?"
"His leg hurts," she told him.
"Hmm. I presume he did not injure it jogging, or in a collision nor is he pregnant?"
"No, none of those. My Father has been in Princeton General for three days now," she started to explain.
"Princeton General?" House questioned. "Doesn't sound like a problem that could concern me."
"We are not at the clinic yet!" She snapped at him, and he nodded her to go on – hiding a smile. "Anyway, four days ago, my father stumbled at work and hit his thigh. The pain was so bad that he went to the hospital to get an injection for it. It was ok till the next day, when the pain returned and he went back. They took him in to do some tests and while in there he started to pee blood. They ordered bed rest and antibiotics. Later his urine turned tea-coloured. They didn't change the treatment. I do not live at home anymore, so I found out about this only this morning. My Mother didn't want to worry me. I went to see my Father immediately and he told me that he had felt the pain before he had hit his leg, that the pain was the reason why he did fall not the result of it. His doctor did not want to listen. I tried to talk to the doctor myself. I suggested that my Father needs an MRI on his leg. I even pointed out that the colour of the urine could be due to muscle death and since the treatment hadn't worked so far, more tests were needed. The doctor refused and told me that just because I study in PPTH does not mean I'm Dr. House and I should go back to my studies and leave the doctoring to doctors."
"Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" House asked mildly, refusing to let her see that the story had hit a cord.
"Yes, that was his name. You know him?" she asked.
"Yes, I do know him. He is an idiot," House stated.
"From what I have seen of him, I cannot disagree. So you understand why I want to get my Father transferred here?"
"I can see why you want him here, but what makes you think I would take him as my patient?"
"I don't know. I only know that he needs you. The cases you described to us at that lecture, well obviously the third case is why I want you to take him on." She sounded anxious.
"The cases were not all mine, you know. I wasn't the doctor in charge of the golfer." House pointed out.
"That may be, but you agreed with his decision not to amputate."
"That is a rather flimsy reason to want me on the case," House doubted.
"Possibly, but ... I don't know. I don't know why I want you to take my Father's case. I just could not think of anyone else, for some reason you are the only one I want to trust with my Father's life."
"You do understand that if you want to have your father transferred here, Princeton General may object, they may even demand that your father signs a waver to protect them against malpractice suit," House explained.
"My older brother is a lawyer. I called him as soon as I had seen my Father. He is now with Father and will take care of all that," she asserted.
"On the other hand, we too, need wavers signed. We do not want to be held responsible for the mistakes of Princeton General." House added.
"That is understandable and we are prepared for that."
"In that case, you are in luck," House smiled mischievously. "I find the idea of stealing a patient from Dr. Livingston highly appealing. And I'm fairly sure Cuddy will like it too, since Dr. Livingstone has always made it clear he disapproves of women in charge of hospitals. He especially finds Cuddy's cleavage offending to his sensibilities – which in itself shows what a total moron he is."
Just as House accepted the case they arrived at the clinic. Brenda had a pile of files ready for him, but he told her that that could wait.
"I need to see Cuddy first," House told Brenda. "Though that woman over in that corner cannot wait for anyone, she needs to get to the ER immediately."
"Mrs. Burns?" Brenda wondered.
"I have no idea what her name is, but she is having a heart attack." House revealed.
"She came in with indigestion," Brenda stated.
House got a cunning look on his face: "Five patients to Cuddy say that it's as heart attack."
"No patients to Dr. Cuddy for a month says it is not," Brenda returned.
"Excellent," House agreed. Then he turned to the medical student with him: "You ... What was your name?"
"Soo Park," she told him.
"Ok, Soo, go and catch that lady before she keels over in her chair. You can lay her gently on the floor and start CPR," House turned back to Brenda. "Bag, please?" With a patronising smile Brenda handed him a CPR mask with a bag attached to it. Her smile disappeared as just at that moment Mrs. Burns fell into Soo's arms clutching her chest.
In five minutes the cardiac unit had taken over and wheeled Mrs. Burns to the ER.
"So," House smiled at Brenda. "It looks like I'm going to have a lot of fun at the clinic today, once I have spoken with Cuddy."
"It might still be something else than a heart attack," Brenda insisted.
"Fine," House said. "You find out what it was and then tell me when I get back. Come along ... what was your name again?"
"Soo Park," Soo repeated still a little stunned at what had just happened. "How did you know what was wrong with Mrs. Burns?" She had to ask.
"Colour of her skin, the way she was breathing and the way she was sitting," House catalogued. "She was having typical symptoms of a heart attack in a woman of her age. Heart attacks in women are often missed, because the symptoms that are described as typical in text books are based on men having heart attacks. Women are often misdiagnosed as having panic attacks or indigestion. It has only recently occurred to doctors that the very same things that cause infarctions in men can cause them in women as well, and that the symptoms might be different."
"I see," Soo said thoughtfully.
"No you don't," House stated. "But it is possible you will, one of these days. Ok, here's Dr. Cuddy's office and you are going to do the explaining in there, so gather your thoughts."
